Service: Women’s Land Army
Service number: 991
Locality on Enlistment:
Duration of Service:
Prisoner of War: No
Honours: None for display
Date and Place of Birth: 21 Feb 1927 Apollo Bay
Parents: John Edwin O’MALLEY and Gertrude STEELE
Spouse: Ernest Eugene POWELL
School/s: Wye River, Apollo Bay and Birregurra State Schools
Occupation: Railway employee
Date and Place of Death: 3 Dec 2011 Stratford
Place of Burial: Stratford Cemetery
NOTES: AWLA women were generally drawn from city areas and were often unskilled in rural work. Recruits had to be between 18 and 50 years of age and be British subjects or immigrants from Allied nations. Women on the land who were farmers, employees or relatives of land holders were not eligible to enlist. Enrolment numbers peaked in December 1943, with 2,382 permanent members and 1,039 auxiliary members. The average working week for an AWLA member was 48 hours, with pay starting at the AWLA minimum wage of 30 shillings a week. Women were paid much less than their male counterparts for the same work, which covered a variety of agricultural labours, such as vegetable and fruit growing, pig and poultry raising, and sheep and wool work. The AWLA was disbanded on 31 December 1945. In 1997, many members became eligible for the Civilian Service Medal, after a Committee of Enquiry recommendation in 1994. Australian War Memorial